Pelagio Noctiluca / Purple Striped Jellyfish
Description and Comments
Odd but new to us in these waters. Representing about 25% of the jellyfish we are seeing here (over a million).
Type of organism
Jellyfish
Quantity
100
Latitude
38.58
Longitude
-27.93
Comments
I don't think i posted this
I don't think i posted this correctly as i chose "1" as qty but, this type of jellyfish that we haven't been seeing (at least not for the 3-4 years we have lived here) but are now here in huge quantities. Only a guestimate but probably in the 250,000 range. They are good sized ie caps are 3-4 inches wide for the most part the dangling parts are 6 inches then stringers even longer.
Their natural distribution
In reply to I don't think i posted this by salvernaz
Their natural distribution spans the Atlantic, and checking the scientific literature, I see a bloom off Saõ Miguel in 2007, and page 8 of this report says that "Huge aggregations of the medusae Pelagia noctiluca invade Azorean shorelines annualy, especially during spring." (https://repositorio.uac.pt/bitstream/10400.3/1560/2/Animais%20Marinhos…)
So maybe unusual and remarkable but not unprecedented? We *really* appreciate your report.
It's interesting but why
It's interesting but why would they not be here for years then appear in mass I wonder. Thank you for the feedback and reading material. Until i got stung 2 days ago i guess i didn't have a healthy enough respect for these creatures! SIGH